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By STEVE TRIVETT, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES — The 2007 World Series of Poker is just 50 weeks away. Mark Weller is counting the days until he hears the words one more time.

“Shuffle up and deal.”

Weller played in the 2006 WSOP.

He played well.

In fact, he did something that’s almost unheard of in Las Vegas.

He got out of town with money.

And now, he can’t wait to get back.

“I’m already preparing for next year,” said Weller, who is the director of operations for Great Lakes Carpet, one of the major building contractors in The Villages. “I would go back right now.”

There are several events in the World Series of Poker.

The biggest one is the Main Event — the tournament which has an entry fee of $10,000 and this year drew a field of 8,763 players.

Weller was one of those players.

“We flew out Thursday and I paid my entry fee,” he said. “There are four days of Round 1 play and I started on Saturday.”

And when you jump into the pond with the biggest poker sharks in the world, you sign on for the duration.

“Play on the first day lasted 16 hours,” Weller said. “And the second day lasted 15 hours.

“It’s a grind.”

And during that grind, Weller crossed cards with some of the biggest names in the world of professional poker.

“The very first day I was at the same table with Chris Ferguson,” Weller said of playing stare-down with the man nicknamed “Jesus.”

“I went head-to-head with him on four hands, and you know you are in the big-time when you are playing him because all the cameras from ESPN show up.”

The bright lights didn’t faze Weller.

“I won three of those four hands,” he said.

At the end of Day 1, Weller had pushed his stack to $55,000.

“They say if you double up in the first day, you did good,” Weller said.

Then came the wait for Day 2.

“I didn’t play again until Tuesday,” he said. “And that was really an up-and-down day.

“I got as high as $97,000 and as low as $4,000. I finally finished the day at $45,000, but I was still hanging in.”

And at the WSOP, hanging in means giving yourself a chance at a piece of the big money.

Weller returned to the table for his third round on Friday, and that’s when he kicked, grinding into another gear.

“It is a grind,” he said. “By the third day I was telling myself that I had to get back to work so I could get some rest.”

Friday was another up-and-down day for Weller as he saw his stack grow as high as $98,000 but fall as low as $45,000.

But when Friday’s bee sounded, he was still around and he knew he was in the money.

“At about 3 or 4 Friday afternoon, the announcement was made that all the remaining players were going to cash,” Weller said. “That’s the call you wait for all week.”

And if the pressure level is high on Day 1, it doubles by Day 3.

“At noon Friday I was playing at the same table with Alan Cunningham,” Weller said. “He went on to finish fourth.”

And when some of Weller’s buddies found out he had made the money round, they hopped on a plane to Vegas.

“The cheering section flew out,” Weller said. “I guess the excitement got the better of them.”

But then the hand that all poker players fear fell on Weller.

Weller had a good deal — picking up a pair of pocket 5s

“I was at a table with an older guy who had been playing the same way all day,” Weller said. “If he had been re-raised, he had been folding all day. He opened and I re-raised by going all in with $37,000.

“I thought he would fold like he had been doing all day, but he called.”

And he called with a pair of jacks.

“I had a couple of outs (cards left in the deck) that could have beaten him, but they didn’t come,” Weller said. “And I was gone.”

But he was gone in 503rd place — good enough to win $26,389.

“I finally sat down and thought about what had happened, I felt good about the way I had played,” he said.

And he can’t wait to play again.

“I’ve got the bug now,” he said. “I can hardly wait to play again next year.

“I’ve planned my vacation around it.”

And he already hears the call.

“Shuffle up and deal.”

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